By: Donemore Torerwa, general manager: product development and applications, Aberdare Cables.
Copper cable theft has been a major challenge for municipalities and utilities, locally and regionally, negatively impacting service delivery to customers. Aberdare Cables has, over the years, been involved in regional work to support municipalities, Eskom, and other authorities and utilities in the fight against copper theft and the related service delivery interruptions.
Some of the notable past and currently relevant initiatives from Aberdare Cables include the development of the aluminium alloy and copper-clad control and power cables for use in traffic lighting control cable applications; the development of bigger size aluminium cables for medium-voltage and high-voltage cables to allow improved use of low scrap value aluminium material in high-risk areas in place of copper; as well as the development of house connection cable known as Saferdac, which has already proved to be successful within municipalities and utilities that have adopted this product as a theft-deterrent product.
Apart from product development initiatives, Aberdare has supported the South African Police Service (SAPS) by educating its personnel on cable knowledge to help combat cable theft.
In 2024, Aberdare Cables, through its Research and Development (R&D) department, began a journey to develop a bi-metal design for house connection applications in response to the needs of local municipalities and utilities, as expressed in the technical specification NRS 110 (2019 version). Having undergone rigorous safety and compliance testing of this product to NRS 110 and SANS 1507-6, as applicable, Aberdare Cables can gladly confirm the launch of the Tinned Copper Clad Aluminium Alloy (CCAA) Airdac product as a replacement for the traditional Copper Airdac in high-theft risk areas.
Tinned CCAA Airdac is available in versions of Combined Neutral/ Earth (CNE) and the separate neutral/ earth with or without communication cores, depending on the needs of the municipality/ utility. This product will improve the service delivery efficiency for municipalities and utilities as it is not attractive to thieves as it is processed by metallurgically fusing copper and aluminium, making it difficult to separate for the scrap dealers, and the copper content in TCCAA is very low, making this product an almost zero-scrap-value product. The TCCAA product is available for supply to interested parties in the market.
Aberdare Cables will continue to support its customers and users in addressing their challenges through structured R&D processes. Aberdare Cables is open to partnering with progressive organisations and educational institutions on research aimed at addressing challenges in local communities and industries.
